Ethel Sorokin, CFAR Founder, 1928-2012

[caption id="attachment_1953" align="alignleft" width="169"] Ethel Sorokin[/caption]Ethel Sorokin, co-founder of the Center for First Amendment Rights and a tireless advocate for civil liberties, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, at Hartford Hospital. She was 84.

Sorokin practiced law with her husband, Milton, in Hartford for 40 years and they founded the center for First Amendment Rights (CFAR) in 1993 to educate young people about the fundamental rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Milton Sorokin died in 1996 and the center merged with the Connecticut affiliate of the ACLU in 2008.

"No one believed more passionately than Ethel Sorokin that young people had to know more about the American heritage of civil liberties," said Don Noel, an ACLU of Connecticut board member who was its president when the merger took place. "Over a decade and a half, her stubborn persistence found not only the funds to create writing prizes, symposiums and conferences, but speakers of a stature that commanded attention."

Andy Schatz, president of the ACLU of Connecticut, noted that Sorokin worked closely with the affiliate after the merger and was planning to attend an Education Committee meeting the day she died. "We will miss her challenging questions and wise and supportive counsel," Schatz said. "Ethel was not only deeply committed to the fight for civil liberties as a practicing lawyer but recognized how important it is to teach about civil liberties in every way possible."

The ACLU of Connecticut continues to sponsor an annual essay contest for high school students on First Amendment topics, with the $1,000 first prize named after Ethel Sorokin, as well as the annual Milton Sorokin Symposium in the spring, with prominent speakers on First Amendment issues. On Constitution Day in September and throughout the school year the affiliate sends representatives to schools to talk about the Constitution and civil liberties.

"Ethel passed her enthusiasm for the First Amendment to thousands of young people through the programs sponsored by CFAR and the ACLU of Connecticut," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut. "Her spirit will continue to inspire our education programs."

"An important voice has been stilled, but will not be forgotten," Noel said.

Sorokin held a bachelor's degree from Vassar College and graduated in 1953 from the University of Connecticut Law School, where she was the first woman to edit the law review. She and Milton lived in West Hartford.

She is survived by two daughters in Philadelphia, Dr. Rachel Sorokin Goff and Attorney Sharon Sorokin James; a son in Boston, the Honorable Leo T. Sorokin, Chief Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts; eight grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Services well be held Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, at 1 p.m. at the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Avenue, Hartford.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the ACLU of Connecticut, 330 Main Street, First Floor, Hartford, CT, or to the University of Connecticut School of Law, 65 Elizabeth St., Hartford, Connecticut.